By MICHAEL GINGOLD
A decade ago, Maika Monroe made quite an entrance into the horror scene as star of David Robert Mitchell’s terrifying sleeper IT FOLLOWS, and also co-starred in Adam Wingard’s THE GUEST. She has dropped into the horror genre a few times since, most notably in the lead of Chloe Okuno’s WATCHER, and now she has another standout genre role in Osgood Perkins’ LONGLEGS. It’s a riveting turn in the dread-soaked film (reviewed here), which opens Friday from Neon, and which Monroe discusses below.
LONGLEGS casts Monroe (who will soon reteam with Mitchell on the sequel THEY FOLLOW) as Lee Harker, an FBI agent carrying both certain psychic gifts and a good deal of psychological baggage from past traumas. Both come to the fore when she is assigned to a case involving family murders that appear to have been influenced by the titular villain, who leaves coded notes at the slaying scenes. Featuring one of Nicolas Cage’s most out-there performances as Longlegs, the film is a freaky, frightening triumph for Perkins (he talks about it in RUE MORGUE #219, now on sale), who got his own start in the fear field around the same time Monroe did, with THE BLACKCOAT’S DAUGHTER.
Your career and Perkins’ have evolved along parallel tracks over the last decade, and yours is kind of a match made in horror heaven. Had you ever discussed collaborating before LONGLEGS?
No, I just met him when I was sent the script, and we started talking about this project.
What were your first impressions of the screenplay? Did it have the same strange vibe on the page that the movie has on screen?
To an extent, yes. When I read it for the first time, for the first 30 or 40 pages, I definitely thought it was going one way. And then, as you see in the film, there are some very big twists, and it becomes something completely different and incredibly unexpected. I was obsessed with the script.
How about the character of Lee Harker?
Well, as you know if you’ve seen the movie, a lot is revealed about her at the end, so I read the script once and was like, “I have to go back and reread it to really understand where Lee is at this point in her life.” She clearly has been through quite a bit of trauma, a lot that is very suppressed, and it seemed like a very interesting challenge of a role.
Perkins has said that he took inspiration from Clarice Starling in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Did you also use her as a reference?
There’s no question that that movie was an influence, but I feel like Lee is very different from Clarice, just in how she goes through life. Obviously that was an inspiration, but I also wanted to be free to create my own character.
Lee is a very isolated person, and in that way she has similarities to your roles in IT FOLLOWS and WATCHER. Is this a particular kind of part that appeals to you?
I guess so! I don’t know, what am I doing here? It’s lonely [laughs]! No, it just sort of worked out that way, I guess.
What was your collaboration with Perkins like on set?
It was incredible. He has such a strong vision, but he’s also very open to collaboration, which is all you can ask for in a filmmaker. I had a lot of ideas and things that were important to me for this role, and he was completely on board.
There are many scenes where you’re alone on screen for long takes. How were those to shoot?
Oz, the DP [Andrés Arochi Tinajero] and I had a lot of conversations, just because the aesthetic was very specific. I love that sort of stuff; I love when a director is very precise about the look of it, the cinematography, and doing those long shots where you’re really able to sit in those uneasy places.
Speaking of uneasy, Perkins has said that you didn’t see Nicolas Cage on this film until you saw him on set in his makeup.
Yep, yep, yep! It was absolutely insane. Oz decided that he didn’t want me to meet Nic, he didn’t want me to see any photos of his makeup. And so the first time I saw him was when they called “Action” and I walked on the set for the scene where I meet Longlegs for the first time. The first take was obviously a very raw, visceral reaction to seeing Nic in character for the first time, and I tried to keep that feeling with me as we continued to do more takes and more coverage. It was an experience I’ll never forget; as you know, there are no real remnants of Nic Cage in Longlegs, so watching him perform, and change his voice and his mannerisms and everything, was incredible.
Once you had done that scene with him, were you able to talk to him between scenes, or did you keep yourself isolated from him?
He was very Method–but that day was his last day of filming, so when we finished that scene and wrapped him, people heard his natural voice for the first time, and he was very sweet and lovely. But he stayed in character between takes. I don’t know if he could step out of that part; it was a very intense role to play.
Did you stay in character for the whole shoot, or were you able to take breaks from it?
I’m not necessarily Method. I mean, for certain scenes that are really intense or have a lot of emotion, I prefer to stay in that headspace. But I also like being able to step outside of it, just for my mental health.
How about working with Alicia Witt as Lee’s mother?
Oh, she is incredible! When I saw the film for the first time, I was blown away by her performance. There was a lot that I didn’t notice when we were working together; there were certain scenes where I was turned away from her, or there was so much happening or so much intensity that I missed some of the little nuances of her acting. Her role was not easy, and she just nailed it. And she was such a joy to work with, too; she’s so lovely and kind. I have all the praise for her.
Did you get a chance to work with her on your characters’ relationship before shooting started?
Not really. We discussed a little bit on set, but she had certain conversations with Oz and I had conversations with Oz, and I think we wanted to keep sort of at a distance, to get a bit of that disconnect between our characters, and a sense of discomfort.
How about the FBI side of the role? Did you do a lot of preparation for that?
That was one of the parts I was most excited about! I grew up loving crime movies. One of the first days we were filming was one of the crime scenes, and it was one of those moments where I was like, “My job is so cool! [Laughs] I have the coolest job in the world!”
Did the movie undergo any changes while you were shooting, or did you strictly stick to the script?
Oh, no, we definitely made changes. Oz probably wanted to murder me for this [laughs], but I was very strict about all the FBI stuff, all the codes, being very, very accurate about piecing together this case. I wanted all those things to add up, and for all these things to make sense to me. So we spent so many hours, and had to adapt dialogue and other things to that end. It was a doozy, but it was so much fun.
So everything we see in the notebooks, etc. made sense and was thought out?
Oh yes! Hours and hours of hard work [laughs].
Was there anything beyond Witt’s performance that surprised you when you saw the finished film?
The cinematography blew me away. I had an idea of the aesthetic of some of the shots that Andrés was doing, but it just elevates the movie. It’s a character in itself. It brings this uneasy feeling in the simplest of scenes, and generally just blew me away.
Did shooting on those stark Oregon locations help get you into the right headspace?
Oh, yeah. It’s incredibly cinematic, in a sense, being in those remote areas, and it helps you disassociate from yourself and your life and enter this new world.
In general, when you make a horror film, is it a different experience from the other movies you’ve done?
Yes and no. It usually is more physically and mentally demanding. It’s this consistent dark headspace you need to be in that is grueling, and very challenging.
What can you tell us at this point about THEY FOLLOW?
Not much [laughs]. I think it’s going to be incredible. David is brilliant, and he’s bringing back all the same gang. It’s going to be something really, really special, and I’m so excited to step back into that whole universe.
You were just starting out when you made IT FOLLOWS, and you’ve done so much since then. Do you think that will make the sequel a different experience?
I’m sure, yeah. I was brand new, and it’s kind of crazy to think about just where I was on the first one. It’ll probably be a bit strange, coming back, but I’m looking forward to it.
Do you have anything else coming up in the horror genre, and have you talked with Perkins about reteaming on anything?
I would love to work with Oz again; he’s such a brilliant filmmaker. But no, not as of now, other than THEY FOLLOW. We’ll just have to see what’s around the corner.
